Kings Stung By Charlotte In Road Loss

After sweeping a three game home-stand, the Sacramento Kings started off their six-game road trip with a 114-95 loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Thursday night.

Sacramento, who started the game off with a 15-3 run, couldn’t contain a Hornets offense that would go on to outscore them 43-25 in the second quarter to take a 63-50 lead into the half.

The Kings had their chances, cutting the lead to seven in the third during a five minute scoring drought by Charlotte. Sacramento failed to capitalize, trailing 83-73 after three quarters and never cutting the lead below nine points in the final period.

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist was big off the bench for the Hornets, scoring 15 points, while leading the game in plus-minus at +26 over 30 minutes. All-star guard Kemba Walker led the way for Charlotte with 23 points as the Hornets improved to 15-8 at the Spectrum Center.

Buddy Hield led the Kings in scoring with 24 points on 6-of-11 from the three point line, while Bogdan Bogdanovic added 17 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Willie Cauley-Stein kept his rebounding consistent as he grabbed 11 rebounds. Cauley-Stein is averaging 10.4 rebounds over his past five contests.

Marvin Bagley III had a nice game off the bench with 15 points and 8 rebounds in only 23 minutes of action.

Sacramento’s woes from the free throw line continued on Thursday, as they shot a dreadful 46 percent. The Kings rank 28th in the league in free throw percentage, and 28th in free throw makes per game.

The Kings will need to rebound from this loss quickly as they head to Detroit to face the Pistons on Saturday night.

Sacramento, who have no problem winning at Golden 1 Center with 14 home wins on the season, will need to start taking care of business on the road if they want to remain in the playoff hunt. The Kings fell to 9-12 on the road after Thursday’s loss.

Coming Up

Catch the Kings take on the Detroit Pistons on Saturday night, right here on KHTK Sports 1140. Pregame coverage starts at 3:30pm, followed by tip off at 4:00pm.

Sacramento beat Detroit 112-102 on January 10th at Golden 1 Center in a game that saw the Pistons play without superstar Blake Griffin.

Griffin will be in the lineup for Saturday’s rematch at Little Caesars Arena.